Leighton Park School is a co-educational

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for both day and boarding pupils in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in South East

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, having been founded as a Quaker School in 1890. The school's ethos is described as achievement with values, character and community. It is one of seven

Quaker schools in England Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

Overview

The school is based in a parkland estate just south of

town centre, next to the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

Whiteknights Park Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and Earley Regis. Whi ...

campus. The school has been a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), formerly known as the Headmasters' Conference and now branded HMC (The Heads' Conference), is an association of the head teachers of 351 private fee-charging schools (both boarding schools ...

since 1932. It offers both the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

and

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

at Sixth Form. The school won Senior School of the Year in the Independent Schools Association (ISA) Awards 2023, the largest independent schools’ body in the UK. This success came on the back of Leighton Park also being acknowledged as one of the country’s best independent schools in the prestigious TES Schools Awards 2023 Matthew Judd has been the headmaster since September 2018. At

A level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

in 2019, pupils' progress score was Well Above Average with students gaining 0.6 of a grade on average across their subjects. No data were published by the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

for the school at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

level. The School was inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in November 2021 and was found to be excellent for both the quality of pupils’ personal development and the quality of their academic progress. The Michael Malnick Centre for music and media

The Michael Malnick Centre for music and media

There are 27 music teachers covering a range of instruments. The school offers dance with a new studio built in 2020 and a GCSE and A Levels qualifications available. The school's music and media centre opened in 2019. It offers a BTec in Digital Media Production at both level 2 and level 3 and works with nearby Pinewood Studios. Old School and attached laboratories at Leighton Park are Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s. Grove House was designed by Victorian architect

Alfred Waterhouse Alfred Waterhouse (19 July 1830 – 22 August 1905) was an English architect, particularly associated with Gothic Revival architecture, although he designed using other architectural styles as well. He is perhaps best known for his designs ...

, who also designed the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in London and himself an old boy of

Grove House School Grove House School was a Quaker school in Tottenham, United Kingdom. School The school was established in 1828 as a boarding school for 75 boys of the Quaker community, initially under Thomas Binns. One of its founders was Josiah Forster, who ...

History

Leighton Park was opened in 1890 by members of the

Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

, as a public school for boys. It was founded after

, also a Quaker school, closed in 1877. Grove House School had educated notable personalities such as

Lord Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 1827 – 10 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventive healthcare. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of s ...

and

Thomas Hodgkin Thomas Hodgkin Royal Medical Society, RMS (17 August 1798 – 5 April 1866) was a British physician, considered one of the most prominent pathology, pathologists of his time and a pioneer in preventive medicine. He is now best known for the firs ...

. Leighton Park grew from four boys in 1890 to 103 in the 1920s. The junior school became the independent Crosfields School, making Leighton Park solely a senior school. By 1970 the school had 300 pupils, and in 1975 girls were admitted to the sixth form. In 1993 the school became fully coeducational. Today the school is home to around 520 pupils drawn from over 44 different countries. In 2015, the school celebrated its 125-year anniversary. In March 2016, the school was granted planning permission to develop the main hall and music department into the Music and Media Centre (MMC) which will enhance the facilities for teaching Music and Media at the school. The building officially opened in March 2019. The school is currently redeveloping the historic Grove House to be a new Sixth Form Study Centre and School Library - due to open in early 2024.

Press

Leighton Park appeared on the BBC One Show in 2020, featuring the school's production of PPE for health workers during the Covid-19 pandemic Leighton Park was featured on the BBC Politics Show, which was hosted at the site in December 2010. In April 2005, Quaker-based Sunday Worship was broadcast live from Leighton Park on BBC Radio 4. Heard by an estimated 1.75 million listeners, the sequence of readings, music, ministry and silence "reflected the essence of Quaker values to the wider world." In November 2011 thieves stole Maverick the Harris hawk from a teacher's aviary. Maverick was used "to build a more adventurous curriculum for pupils" and helped students learn physics. Pupils were left distraught after the theft as a core team of pupils had been trained to handle him.

Former pupils

Notable old pupils include: * Sir John Adye, former director of the

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primar ...

* Crispin Aubrey, civil rights campaigner * Sir Tony Baldry, former MP *

Julian Bell Julian Heward Bell (4 February 1908 – 18 July 1937) was an English poet, and the son of Clive and Vanessa Bell (who was the elder sister of Virginia Woolf). The writer Quentin Bell was his younger brother and the writer and painter Angelica ...

, Bloomsbury member, son of

Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...

and

Clive Bell Arthur Clive Heward Bell (16 September 1881 – 17 September 1964) was an English art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group. He developed the art theory known as significant form. Biography Early life and education Bell ...

, poet *

Quentin Bell Quentin Claudian Stephen Bell (19 August 1910 – 16 December 1996) was an English art historian and author. Early life Bell was born in London, the second and younger son of the art critic and writer Clive Bell and the painter and interior ...

, Bloomsbury member, son of

and

, artist and writer *

Eliza Bennett Eliza Bennett (born 17 March 1992) is an English actress and singer. Her most notable roles have been those of Meggie Folchart in the film '' Inkheart'', Tora in the film '' Nanny McPhee'', Susan in '' From Time to Time'' and Holly Manson in th ...

, Film actress * Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, composer and jazz pianist *

Michael Binyon Michael Roger Binyon OBE (born November 1944) is an English journalist known as a foreign correspondent. He has been Moscow Correspondent for ''The Times'', and has reported from Bonn, Washington and the Middle East. He is a leader writer for '' ...

, Times leader journalist * Sir John Birch, former ambassador to Hungary *

Derek Brewer Derek Stanley Brewer (13 July 1923 – 23 October 2008) was a Welsh medieval scholar, author and publisher. Life Born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a clerk with General Electric, Brewer read English at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was ta ...

, Secretary and Chief Executive of Marylebone Cricket Club *

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades ...

, Oscar-winning actor -

Hot Fuzz ''Hot Fuzz'' is a 2007 buddy cop action comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, who co-wrote the film with Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Nicholas Angel, an elite London police officer, whose proficiency makes the rest of his team look bad, causing hi ...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth and penultimate novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series, and takes place during Harry Potter's sixth year at the wizard scho ...

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

Basil Bunting Basil Cheesman Bunting (1 March 1900 – 17 April 1985) was a British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of '' Briggflatts'' in 1966, generally regarded as one of the major achievements of the modernist traditi ...

, poet * Sir Egbert Cadbury, Managing Director of Fry's and

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest c ...

and decorated First World War ace * Kristian Callaghan, British pistol shooter, winner of Bronze Medal 2014 Commonwealth Games *Professor

Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...

, cultural historian *

Lance Clark Lancelot Pease Clark (30 April 1936 – 27 February 2018), was an English shoemaker, businessman, and member of the Clark family, which is the majority owner of shoe retailer Clarks which they had founded in the 1820s. Career Clark was born i ...

Former CEO of Clark's Shoes and founder of Soul of Africa charity *

Nathan Crowley Nathan Crowley (born 28 February 1966) is an English production designer and a former art director, who is best known for his collaborations with Christopher Nolan. He has been nominated seven times for an Academy Award for Best Production Desig ...

, Oscar-winning production designer - Interstellar,

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

, First Man,

Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * ''Wicked'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris ...

* Baron Davies of Stamford, former MP, Government Minister and Life Peer *

Leonard Doncaster Leonard Doncaster (31 December 1877 – 28 May 1920) was an English geneticist and a lecturer on zoology at both Birmingham University and the University of Liverpool whose research work was largely based on insects. Early life Doncaster was ...

, Geneticist * Christopher Dorling, co-founder of Dorling Kindersley Publishing *

Phil Dunster Philip James Dunster is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the Sky One drama '' Strike Back'' (2017–2018), the Channel 4 science fiction series ''Humans'' (2018), the ITV comedy-drama '' The Trouble with Maggie Cole'' (2020), the ...

, Emmy-nominated actor -

Ted Lasso ''Ted Lasso'' ( ) is an American sports film, sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence (TV producer), Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character Sudeikis portrayed in a series ...

Jason Durr Jason Durr (born 2 December 1967) is a British actor of theatre, television and film. Durr made his television debut as Alex Hartman in 1990 in the sci-fi drama '' Jupiter Moon'' in 1990 and went on to star as Mike Bradley in the Yorkshire-base ...

, Actor "Casualty" and

Heartbeat Heartbeat, heart beat or heartbeats may refer to: Science and technology * Heartbeat (biology), one cardiac cycle of the heart * Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system ** Heartbea ...

* Owen Edwards, pioneer of Welsh TV broadcasting *

Hugh Foot, Baron Caradon Hugh Mackintosh Foot, Baron Caradon (8 October 1907 – 5 September 1990) was an English colonial administrator and diplomat who was Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and the last governor of British Cyprus. ...

, former ambassador to

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Foot beg ...

, former Labour Party leader *

Robert Gillmor Robert Allen Fitzwilliam Gillmor MBE (6 July 1936 – 8 May 2022) was a British ornithologist, artist, illustrator, author, and editor. He was a co-founder of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) and was its secretary, chairman and presiden ...

, artist and ornithologist *

Martin Griffiths Martin Griffiths (born 3 July 1951) is a British diplomat who served as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the ...

, Former Under-Secretary-General at the

* Hugh Haughton, Professor at York University *

Tim Ingold Timothy Ingold (born 1 November 1948INGOLD, Prof. Timothy
''Who's Who 2014'', ...

, Anthropologist and Professor at Aberdeen University *

Sir David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of British cinema. He directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River K ...

, Oscar-winning film director -

The Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the novel ''The Bridge over the River Kwai'', written by Pierre Boulle. Boulle's novel and the film's screenplay are almost entirely fictional but u ...

Lawrence of Arabia Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British Army officer, archaeologist, diplomat and writer known for his role during the Arab Revolt and Sinai and Palestine campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the First W ...

, Doctor Zhivago * Po Shun Leong, Artist * Paddy Benson, Archdeacon of Hereford *

Peter Litten Peter Mackenzie Litten (born 24 May 1960), is a British film director and designer who was educated at the Quaker Leighton Park School in Reading. His film credits include ''To Die For (1994 film), To Die For'' and ''Slaughter High''. Originally ...

, Film director *

Tom Lowenstein Thomas Godfrey Lowenstein (15 August 1941 – 21 March 2025) was an English poet, ethnographer, teacher, cultural historian and translator. Beginning his working life as a school teacher, he visited Alaska in 1973 and went on to become particula ...

, Poet * Professor Grigor McClelland, businessman, founder of the

Manchester Business School Alliance Manchester Business School (Alliance MBS) is the business school of the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. It is one of the oldest business schools in the UK, and provides education to undergraduates, postgraduates and e ...

and social activist * David McFarland, Fellow

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

, Professor of animal behaviour, Oxford University *

Laura Marling Laura Beatrice Marling (born 1 February 1990) is an English Folk music, folk singer-songwriter. She won the Brit Award for Brit Award for British Female Solo Artist, Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for th ...

, Multi award-winning singer songwriter *

Tom Maschler Thomas Michael Maschler (16 August 193315 October 2020) was a British publisher and writer. From 1960, he was influential as the head of publishing company Jonathan Cape over a period of more than three decades. Maschler was noted for institutin ...

, Publisher, former chairman of Cape, co-founder of The Booker Prize; founder of The Book Bus * Peter May, cricketer, captain of England, and later Chairman of the England cricket selectors *

Jagat Singh Mehta Dr. Jagat Singh Mehta (17 July 1922 – 6 March 2014) was a civil servant, diplomat, academician, and author who served as India’s Foreign Secretary from 1976 to 1979. His career in the Indian Foreign Services (IFS) spanned from 1947 to 1 ...

, Foreign Secretary India, 1970s * John Mitchell, Musician and music producer *

Nicholas Moore Nicholas Moore (16 November 1918 – 26 January 1986) was an English poet, associated with the New Apocalyptics in the 1940s, whose reputation stood as high as Dylan Thomas’s. He later dropped out of the literary world. Biography Moore wa ...

, poet and son of GE Moore, Cambridge Philosopher *Sir Oscar Morland, Diplomat and ambassador to Japan *Prof.

Peter Nienow Peter Nienow FRSE is a Professor in glaciology at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on how glaciers and ice sheets respond to climate change. He was educated at Leighton Park School and Cambridge University where he gained a Blu ...

, Edinburgh University, winner of the

Polar Medal The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It w ...

2017, recognition for his pioneering glaciological work in the Arctic. *

Nathaniel Parker Nathaniel Parker (born 18 May 1962) is an English stage and screen actor best known for playing the lead in the BBC crime drama series ''The Inspector Lynley Mysteries'', and List of Merlin characters#Agravaine de Bois, Agravaine de Bois in the ...

, Olivier Award-winning actor * Patrick Parrinder, Professor of English, Reading University *

Lionel Penrose Lionel Sharples Penrose, FRS (11 June 1898 – 12 May 1972) was an English psychiatrist, medical geneticist, paediatrician, mathematician and chess theorist, who carried out pioneering work on the genetics Genetics is the study of ...

, Psychiatrist, medical geneticist, paediatrician, mathematician and chess theorist, Galton Professor of eugenics at University College London * Sir Roland Penrose, artist, historian and co-founder of Institute of Contemporary Arts * Henry Priestman, Singer/songwriter with The Christians * John Prizeman, Architect and author on modern design *Prof.

Dan Reinstein Dan Z. Reinstein is a specialist ophthalmic surgeon in the UK and is a board-certified registered specialist ophthalmologist in the US, Canada, and the UK, specialising in the field of refractive surgery (vision correction). He is medical directo ...

, Leading eye surgeon and jazz musician *

Karel Reisz Karel Reisz (21 July 1926 – 25 November 2002) was a Czech-born British filmmaker and film critic, one of the pioneers of the new realist strain in British cinema during the 1950s and 1960s. Two of the best-known films he directed are '' Satur ...

, Oscar-winning film director *Prof. Julian Stallabrass, Art historian, photographer and lecturer, Courtauld Institute * Ian Stillman, Missionary *

Richard Vernon Richard Evelyn Vernon (7 March 1925 – 4 December 1997) was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playi ...

, Leading character actor *

Richard G. Wilkinson Richard Gerald Wilkinson (born 1943) is a British social epidemiologist, author, advocate, and left-wing political activist. He is Professor Emeritus of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, having retired in 2008. He is also Hon ...

, Social epidemiologist, author and advocate *

Timothy Williamson Timothy Williamson (born 6 August 1955) is a British philosopher whose main research interests are in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, epistemology and metaphysics. He is the former Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of O ...

, Former

Wykeham Professor of Logic The University of Oxford has three statutory professorships named after William of Wykeham, who founded New College. Logic The Wykeham Professorship in Logic was established in 1859, although it was not known as the Wykeham chair until later. I ...

, Oxford University *

Stuart Zender Stuart Patrick Jude Zender (born 18 March 1974) is an English bassist. He is best known as a former member of the band Jamiroquai. Biography Early life Zender was born in Sheffield, England. He comes from a family with a musical background: ...

, Musician and former founder member of

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai ( ) are an English acid jazz and funk band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in th ...

* Shyam Bhatia, Writer and journalist

Arms

References

External links

School websiteOld Leightonians Cricket Club website

Welcome To GBS Swim School
{{Coord, 51, 26, 15, N, 0, 56, 51, W, type:edu_region:GB, display=title 1890 establishments in England Boarding schools in Berkshire Grade II listed buildings in Reading Educational institutions established in 1890 Private schools in Reading, Berkshire International Baccalaureate schools in England Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference * Quaker schools in England